Seven proposal mistakes that get you scrolled past, and the fix for each

A client rarely rejects a proposal. They simply never open it. These seven habits are the usual reasons, and each has a simple fix.

1. Opening with yourself

"I am a professional developer with six years of experience." The client's list shows only your first lines, and this one is in most of them. Fix: open with their problem, in their words, with one detail from their post.

2. Listing every skill

Seven tools and five services force the client to hunt for relevance. Fix: mention only what this job needs. Your profile holds the rest.

3. Three proofs in place of one

A row of past projects reads like a CV. Fix: choose the single project that most resembles their problem and give it one sentence with a real detail. If you have none, offer a small paid first step.

4. Describing your process

"First I do discovery, then strategy, then execution." Nobody can picture that. Fix: say the first concrete thing you would do in the first two days, naming something from their post.

5. Ending with nothing to answer

"Looking forward to hearing from you" asks for nothing. Fix: end with one question about their project that can be answered in a line. A choice between two options is easiest of all.

6. Ignoring instructions

If the post asks for a code word, two samples or answers to questions, and you skip them, you have told the client you did not read it. Fix: read the last paragraph first.

7. Pasting an unedited AI draft

Clients have learnt the sound of it: long, polite, confident and empty. Worse, an unchecked draft may claim something you never did. Fix: use AI to read the post and produce a first draft, then cut every sentence that could be sent to another client, check every fact, and read it aloud once.

A quick test before you send

Cover the client's name and ask: could this proposal be sent, unchanged, to a different job? If yes, it is still a template. Keep cutting until the answer is no.

• First line contains a detail from the post.
• Exactly one proof, and it is true.
• A first step you could start this week.
• One question, answerable in a line.
• Under 150 words unless they asked for detail.

None of this needs talent. It needs the discipline to read before writing and to delete what is generic. A short proposal that passes this test will not always get a reply, because that is the client's decision. But it will be read as a reply to their problem, which is more than most in the list can say.

Bidcraft's editor prompt runs this test for you on any draft, and its swipe file has 40 opening lines sorted by situation to start from.